'Everyone's neighbour is a magpie': Edmonton reckons with its official city bird

Edmonton Journal

09-07-2025

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Nita Jalkanen checks on the avian neighbours that fly into her Edmonton backyard to drink from her bird bath nearly every day with her dog Ariel.
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'I talk to them. I say, 'Good morning or good afternoon, Mr. Magpie,' and they feel safe so there's no squawking,' said the 59-year-old in an interview.
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'They'll come and approach (Ariel) and play. They'll chase each other around the tree … like they are playing tag.
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'They've obviously formed a friendship with my dog and with me.'
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Black-billed magpies can be seen walking, soaring and chirping in nearly every neighbourhood in Edmonton.
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The bird is seen in murals around town, and locals sometimes wear magpie costumes for Halloween.
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Elly Knight, an avian ecologist with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, says that's why it makes sense the city declared the conspicuous, clever and chatty corvidae with striking black, blue, green and white stripes its official bird this May.
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'Everyone's neighbour is a magpie in Edmonton,' said Knight, also a professor of biological science at the University of Alberta.
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Nature Alberta says more than 40,000 people cast their vote to choose the city's official bird.
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'(Magpies) won 16,018 votes in total, meaning nearly 40 per cent of Edmonton-area residents who voted chose this bird to represent their city,' it said in a post on social media.
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'I find magpies a little bit brash relative to the average Edmontonian,' she said. 'They're so noisy. They are also, as corvids, sometimes a little bit mean.'
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Knight said they are often embroiled in turf wars with their sister species, the crow. 'They will attack each other's nests and attack each other's babies. They will also eat baby squirrels. And it's that element that I know of Edmonton is not as representative.'
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Knight said their loud chirping is also what makes them stand out, sometimes becoming a nuisance to locals. The high-pitched tweets are often of teen magpies looking for attention.